


Trim a Tree

by Rinkafic



Series: Telpa 'verse - Tales Outside Continuity [9]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-06
Updated: 2013-02-06
Packaged: 2017-11-28 09:25:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/672829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinkafic/pseuds/Rinkafic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ja'han tells the twins about Christmas back home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trim a Tree

"What are you doing in here?" Evan asked, coming into the room and pulling his cloak off. He had spent the day in the vineyards, walking the rows to make one final check to be sure the netting was secure over the vines for the winter. He had come in to find Ja'han and the girls sitting in the midst of what seemed to be a paper storm. At the center of the room, there was a tree. A tree. In the house. He walked closer and gave Ja'han an odd look, then looked at the tree in question.

"We asked Daddy about things he used to do at Winterfall when he was little like us," Bethie said, running over to throw her arms around Evan's waist and hugging him tightly. "He said they didn't have Winterfall."

Returning to Ja'han's side after greeting Evan with a hug and kiss, Becca shook her head sadly, as if this had been the saddest thing she had ever heard. "He said they had Frismast, instead."

"Christmas," Ja'han corrected softly, rubbing Becca's dark curls. 

"Why is there a tree in the house?" Evan asked.

Becca smiled broadly and gave a deep sniff. "Doesn't it smell pretty, Da? Daddy said it smelled like Crismast."

"I’m improvising," Ja'han said. "It doesn't look the same as a Christmas tree back home, but it smells pretty much like I remember. The tradition is to decorate a tree to celebrate the season." 

It wasn't often that Ja'han spoke about his old home, the one that didn't have telpa in it. Fascinated, he sat on the floor beside Bethie and picked up a strip of paper. "Are we making the decorations?"

"Yes, I’ll show you how,” Becca crawled across the floor and climbed up onto Evan’s lap. 

“You do it like this, Da." Becca picked up a strip of colored paper and carefully applied some paste to one end, then made a loop with it. "Then you make another one and put it through, like this." 

"Ah, a paper chain," Evan said as he realized what the pile of paper around them actually was. "What do we do with this when it is finished?"

"We're going to hang it on the tree, with the other decorations." Becca pointed to a collection of things on the table. "We waited for you so we could decorate together, because Daddy said the holiday is about doing things with your family."

"Is it?" Evan asked, eyeing Ja'han for affirmation.

"Among other things. It is a season of celebrating where I come from. A time for good cheer and giving and celebrating with family."

Bethie smiled up at him. "We made a gift for you, it’s for tomorrow. Daddy said today is Crimsas Eve."

He smiled. "I don't have a gift for any of you." 

"I have a gift for them, from both of us, Evan."

"Show me what else you made," Evan coaxed the girls and they leapt up and ran across the room.

Evan leaned close to Ja'han and whispered, "You should have told me you wanted to celebrate one of your people’s holidays."

Jahan shrugged. "I didn't realize I missed it until the girls asked me this morning."

"You did all this today? How is it you have a gift for them?"

Ja'han grinned, and leaned over to kiss Evan's cheek. "I'm improvising. Roll with it, it'll be fine."

Every once in awhile, Ja'han came out with a phrase from his past that Evan had to decipher. He got the basic idea of what Ja'han meant this time. "I'm rolling." He had a gift he could give Ja'han, a leather journal he had purchased and not yet given to him because he had wanted to find an inkwell to go with it. Since they were improvising, he would gift Jahan with it.

“Are those vines?” Evan pointed to a small pile on the floor behind Bethie. 

“We made weaths,” she picked up a small circle that had been made by twisting some grapevines together. There was a piece of colored ribbon threaded through the circle and tied in a bow.

The tree was distracting. “ Ja'han, WHY is the tree supposed to be decorated?”

“I promised the girls I would tell the the whole story of Christmas when we decorate the tree.”

“I suppose I’ll wait too.” An idea occurred to Evan. “Is this a religious observance, Ja'han?”

“Yes,” Ja'han mumbled.

This was even more rare. Ja'han never spoke about his faith. “Your religion?” Ja'han wouldn’t meet his eyes. “ Ja'han?”

Slowly, his life partner nodded. 

“Then we’ll all need to be respectful, won’t we, Becca and Bethie?” His eyes met Ja'han’s over Becca’s head and Jahan looked relieved at his words. Evan suspected that one of the reasons Ja'han didn’t talk about his past was that he was worried they wouldn’t understand, and in not understanding perhaps they might mock him; Ja'han was inherently shy and didn’t like being the center of attention.

Feeding the excited six year old twins was an exercise in parental patience. They only got through it because Ja'han had saved one last decoration to be finished after they cleaned their plates. 

Taking sweetbiscuits that were shaped like stars and hearts and sprinkled with colored sugar, they tied a ribbon through a hole poked in each one. “These go on last,” Jahan declared as he stacked the final one into a basket. 

“Why, Daddy?” Becca asked.

Ja'han paused in midstep and tilted his head. “I don’t know. My mother always made us wait to put them on until last.”

“Did your da help you make decorations?” Bethie asked as they entered the room the family used as a library and study. 

“No. He was always too busy working. We decorated with our mother, and then when she died, with the housekeeper that looked after us.”

“You said us, Ja'han. Did you have siblings?” Evan asked quietly as the girls went to gather decorations and carry them close to the tree. 

Ja'han nodded. “A brother, Dave. He and his wife are really the only people I still miss. He didn’t know anything about my mission. I wonder what they told him when I never made it back.”

“You don’t miss your Da?” Becca was scandalized by the thought. 

“I do. But he died, long before I left home. Okay, you guys, let’s put the wreaths and paper things on first, then the chains and then the cookies.”

Evan’s job, apparently, was lifting the girls up so that they could loop the strings or ribbons of each ornament over a branch. “Tell us the story, Daddy,” Bethie coaxed.

As Ja'han set Becca down on her feet so that she could choose another decoration, he cleared his throat. “A long time ago, in a place called Bethlehem, a man and his wife were searching for a place to sleep. There was no room at the inn, and so...”

 

The End


End file.
